


Escalation

by Shoulder_Devil



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Actual Murder, Angst, Attempted Murder, Dark fic, Gen, Remote Viewing, bad things, poor Tim, post episode 98
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-06 10:07:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14054604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shoulder_Devil/pseuds/Shoulder_Devil
Summary: Melanie tries and fails to take out Elias. Everyone suffers the consequences.





	Escalation

**Author's Note:**

> I really shouldn't edit while half asleep at nearly 2am but here we are...

There was a knock at the door to Elias’s office and Melanie poked her head in. “You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, thank you for coming. I believe you know why I have called you here?”

She shifted her feet nervously and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “No?” Melanie tried and failed to use an innocent sounding voice. 

“Oh, come now. I thought we were past all that. I will grant you this attempt was better plotted than last time around. However, it has backfired and you must bear witness to the consequences.”

Melanie shifted her gaze away from Elias and caught sight of Jon. He was sitting ridged in a chair, eyes wide but unfocused. His knuckles were white from gripping the armrests. Terror twisted the features on his face. 

“Oh, god,” she whispered, her hand going to her mouth. “What have you done?”

“Only what you forced me to do.” He replied pleasantly. “Now if you will have a seat, I believe you are just in time for the finale.” Elias stood over Jon, putting his hand gently, almost affectionately on the Archivist's head and began stroking his hair. “Jon, can you hear me?”

Jon’s eyes darted around the room, landing briefly on Elias, but did not seem to actually see him. His breath was coming in short gasps, he looked to be in the throes of a panic attack.

“Jon,” Elias’s quiet voice repeated, “talk to me, Jon. You were doing so well earlier.”

Jon let out a strangled cry and tears continued tracing their way down his face. “He’s waiting for me. No matter where I go, this place always forces me back to, to  _him_.”

“Where are you, Jon. What do you _see?_ Describe it for me again. _"_ Elias continued to stroke Jon’s hair as he spoke. His gentleness was probably the most disconcerting thing about the scene in front of her.

“I… I’m in a slaughterhouse.”

Melanie’s blood ran cold. The book had been meant for Elias, but it seems like he’d passed it off to Jon instead.

“There is blood, so much blood. I can hear the screaming but I can’t find anyone.” He sobbed and began to shake. There are metal gratings on all sides of me. The corridor is tight, pressing in when I try to move. The air smells and tastes like rust, everything is tinted a dark red.”

“Very good, Jon.” Elias soothed.

“Jesus, Elias. Stop this, you’ve proven your point. You don’t have to punish Jon for something _I_ did.”

“You misunderstand. By playing with powers you can’t comprehend, you unleashed something. A sacrifice must be made in order to appease it. I am simply making sure that the sacrifice is not in vain.”

A low moan emanated from the distressed Archivist. “He’s coming…”

“Who is coming Jon?” the older man prompted.

“ _Him,_ ” Jon sobbed, “the Man With The Hammer.” he curled in on himself, making a distressed, keening sound.

Elias fixed Melanie with his gaze. “’All who are put on the range are put onto trains. All who are put onto trains meet the Man With The Hammer.’” He quoted from the book Melanie had left him. 

 _A Mother’s Tale_ by James Agee. She had disguised it as a pamphlet on improving managerial styles and left it for Elias to find. The hope was he would see it as some kind of harmless prank and flip through it before realizing it was one of the escaped tomes from Leitner’s library. This particular short story was reported to leave its victims quite literally slaughtered. Melanie cursed herself. Rather than killing Elias, all she had done was given him a weapon. An unstable and unpredictable weapon at that.

“Elias, please.” She begged.

“I warned you that things would get unpleasant if you continued to misbehave. Now poor Tim here will pay the price for your misdeeds.”

“Wait, what?  _Tim?”_

“Yes,” his head tilted slightly, regarding Melanie with curiosity, “I forget your vision is so limited, allow me to explain. The book transported Tim to the Butcher's domain. The Archivist here is living Tim’s experiences alongside him. They've been trapped for hours, though Jon can leave at any time. Unfortunately for him, it isn't in his nature to look away. I didn't feel the need to waste your time with the whole ordeal. The end should be sufficient enough as a lesson, I think.”

“Oh, god! No! Please, no!” Jon wailed between gasped breaths. 

She felt tears burning in her eyes. It wasn’t supposed to be like this! If anyone was to be punished for her failure it should be her. She was just getting to know Tim, really appreciate him as a person. He was an ally against this place and well on his way to becoming an actual friend.

“This is my fault, why are you punishing them?” Her voice caught in her throat but she managed to force the words out.

“Tim has been refusing to be useful to the Institute for some time now. Aside from your… cloak and dagger games, you have been an exemplary employee. The choice was clear. As for Jon, he needed a lesson in remote viewing. It would have been easier on him to start with something... less traumatic, but I couldn't pass up such teachable moment as this.”

Jon was openly weeping now, rocking back and forth, repeating, “no, no, please, no,” over and over again. Elias was still absent mindedly stroking Jon's hair but his attention was fixed on Melanie.

“All things considered, Tim is getting off comparatively light. There are things in this world, in our world especially, far worse than death.” He gave her a slow, predatory smile. 

“I’m so sorry Tim, I should have warned you but I-- I couldn't-- Please forgive me.” The Archivist sobbed before letting out a strangled scream that abruptly cut short. Jon went limp and collapsed onto the floor. His eyes rolled back into his head as a trickle of blood dripped from his nose. He convulsed twice then lay still. 

Elias calmly regarded the unconscious man on the floor of his office. “I sincerely hope that no more examples need to be made, Ms. King.” He looked back at Melanie, his voice cold and sharp as ice encased steel. “It would be a shame if something were to happen to someone else. Martin, perhaps? Wouldn’t it, Melanie?”

She swallowed and nodded.

“Good, I would hate to have to escalate things further. That will be all. You may go.”

Shaking legs carried her away from the two men.

“Oh, Ms. King?” Elias called after her. “Feel free to clean out Mr. Stoker’s desk. He won’t be needing it any longer.”

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry, Tim.   
> You deserved better.


End file.
